Perfectly Put Together

Author:

David Thompson of Assembledge+ builds a home for his family that brings the California dream of indoor outdoor living to vibrant life.

Photos throughout by Matthew Millman

Creating a home for clients is one thing. But it’s when an architect builds a home for themselves that they can really pull out all the stops and create a structure that flaunts their strengths. Such was the case with this Studio City home that David Thompson of Assembledge+ built for his family.

“We’d outgrown it,” he says of the family’s previous home in Larchmont, “It was a small lot, about 5000 square foot lot so there was really no room for it to grow as our family grew.” He discovered a property in the foothills of Studio City that felt perfect for the project he envisioned. “It was a large, beautiful flat piece of property with a house that was sort of falling down,” he remembers.

The new home, despite its location within walking distance of busy Ventura Boulevard, feels serene and secluded. A linear walkway that passes by a trio of olive trees welcomes visitors into the one story home. Three pavilions — a garage and guest quarters, the main rooms and the bedrooms — connected by glass bridges are clustered around an open lawn with a pool. The landscape, augmented by Fiore Landscape Design, with its canopy of trees, natural dry creek and boulders, envelopes the home in nature.

Large sliding glass doors which recede into pocket walls fully open the living and family room to the backyard, the dining room to the olive trees and blur the boundaries between indoors and out. The seamless transition is a signature of the firm’s work. 

Susan Mitnick of Susan Mitnick Design worked with Thompson on the interiors. Both a frequent collaborator and a friend, she understood how Thompson wanted the home to function and created a space that while definitely modern, is also warm and accessible. Oak floors run throughout the home creating a foundation upon which rich textures, jewel tones and touches of black and charcoal bring softness to the home’s clean, strong lines.